Metroid Dread's MercurySteam discredits employees who didn’t work at least 25% of the game's total dev time

[Neat]

Spanish gaming website Vandal published an article detailing how due to company policy, developers who worked for MercurySteam (which is based in Madrid) were not included in the game's credits if they worked for less than 25% of the game's total development time. MercurySteam insists they can make exceptions to this policy for "exceptional contributions" but they seem to be very vague on what exactly they consider exceptional.

Several former employees have stepped forward to make accusations against the company for this treatment and were interviewed for the piece. They claim the game has been in dev for 4 years, thus making 12 months the minimum for accreditation. Obviously due to the nature of game dev and the various positions and skills involved, not everyone is necessary for 12 months or longer.

"I would like to sincerely congratulate the Metroid Dread team for putting out such an exceptional game. I am not surprised by the quality of the game, as the amount of talent on that team was through the roof," he wrote on October 12 in his LinkedIn Roberto Mejías, 3D artist . "I know it first hand because, despite not appearing in the game's credits, I was part of that team for about eight months."

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Another different source, who prefers not to spread his name to avoid "problems", who worked at MercurySteam and was involved in the development, tells us by email that he was working for more than 11 months and does not appear in the credit titles of Metroid Dread . "Not accrediting the work of the team that puts all the love in the project, and the effort, is a very ugly practice , " he says.

Regarding the clause mentioned by the MercurySteam representative, he comments: "the 25% issue sounds like an invented one to me and that it suited them well for the above case ... but hey, neither 25% nor 1%, if I have participated you should put [ in credits] ".

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To make matters worse, it appears that MercurySteam has a clause in their employee contracts stating that employees need to give 42 working days notice if they intend to leave their positions (Spain's workers' statue defines 15 days notice as a minimum), and those who don't honor their 42 day policy incur a financial penalty.

The developer says that he left the Madrid studio to fill a position in another company, but that when he left MercurySteam before the 42 days mentioned, they imposed a financial penalty . "I know that they did the same to another colleague," he adds. Another person in a similar situation, who did not give notice of his departure with those 42 days notice required by the study, reported in human resources that according to the Collective Agreement it is only necessary to give 15 days notice and managed not to receive an economic sanction, although neither appears in the game's credits after working on its development for 11 months.

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Honestly it's a terrible and shameful situation all around, and one that puts a dark mark on a great game. They should be credited for *any* contribution, especially considering how well received the game is. Not being able to prove to your future employers that you worked on it frankly sucks.

More at the link (article in Spanish):
https://vandal.elespanol.com/notici...en-metroid-dread-no-aparecen-en-los-creditos/

Google translated link:
https://vandal-elespanol-com.transl...auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=nui

 

[Dest]

That's some shit

 

[Deleted member 87949]

Everyone who did one second of work on the game, including subcontractors, should be in the credits.

 

[ket]

That fucking sucks

 

[Zomba13]

Well that's depressing.

 

[Neiteio]

Nintendo should rectify this immediately. They don't need this cloud hanging over the head of an otherwise all-time classic.

Get the full list of all who contributed at MercurySteam, and patch them into the credits. It's the right thing to do.

 

[tobes231]

That's piss poor. Doesn't matter if you work on a game for 4 years or 4 days, you still deserve to be credited.

 

[Chucker]

Even a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day.
Problems with LOS2

Edit: Switched to a Eurogamer article that instead of the destructoid one that linked to the old place.

 

[Fireblend]

Ah that sucks

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I hate this fucking trend. Devs should credit everyone who worked on a game, regardless of how long, and regardless of whether they were at the company when the game shipped.

 

[Regulus Tera]

What's up with so many companies across so many entertainment industries fucking up with credits? I remember a similar situation in Space Jam 2

 

[K Samedi]

That seems like a dumb requirement. I mean you can thank the big contributors with special messages in the credits but everyone who put in even a few hours of work should be mentioned.

 

[TransEuropaExpress]

That is so jerky and seemingly unnecessary that I did one of those Michael Scott "wh-aaaat!?" laughs.

 

[DanarchyReigns]

Come the fuck on MercurySteam. You're on a high with the praise and sales Dread is getting, you need to rectify this quickly.

 

[Mifec]

Man fuck I heard a story like this in the last couple years too about some big company? Like leaving the project means you don't get in the credits at all.

 

[GraceOfGod]

Everyone who did one second of work on the game, including subcontractors, should be in the credits.

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Why?

 

[Deleted member 5129]

Yeah, welcome to game dev. I'm literally afraid to even consider changing jobs currently because it probably means I would not be credited on the project I'm working on. Weeeeeeeeeeew.

 

[delete12345]

Nintendo should rectify this immediately.

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They don't own MercurySteam though.

 

[Cheesetriangles]

Boy this sucks shit. Shameful to treat people like this.

 

[Rover_]

this is really one of the shittiest things on games industry.

 

[Neiteio]

They don't own MercurySteam though.

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They funded the game, tho.

 

[Deleted member 11637]

Everyone who did one second of work on the game, including subcontractors, should be in the credits.

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It's really that simple. Respect the work that people put into the game.

 

[ket]

This should be included in the OP of the game's OT

 

[Neoleo2143]

They don't own MercurySteam though.

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They own the game though and that means they also own the credits of that game. This is on them as well to address poor workplace issues with their partners.

 

[Toño]

Oh Mercury Steam, you will never change, eh?

 

[ket]

Man fuck I heard a story like this in the last couple years too about some big company? Like leaving the project means you don't get in the credits at all.

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rockstar and red dead 2 i think

 

[janusff]

this is some bullshit

 

[spam musubi]

Didn't this studio have a lot of internal turmoil and abusive management (who are still there) back around lords of shadow 2?

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2's development was troubled

www.destructoid.com

 

[Arex]

Unfortunately not crediting employees who contributed but left midway still happens quite a bit.
Some games only list the studio names or the leads too.

 

[Faceless_Caesar]

I hate that there isn't a standard for credits in the game industry like I'm sure there is for film and TV. There have been a lot of instances where people are left out for something as dumb as not being in the office the day the credits were being written.

 

[Cess007]

Damn, people out there worked 8 to 11 months on the game and still got no credits. That sucks.

Credit your employees, goddammit

 

[jph139]

The fact this keeps happening is so weird to me.

Like, who cares if they were only there a few months? How hard is it to just throw everybody on there? It's the pettiest shit - it's not like the average person is even reading them or there's concerns over length or whatever. Just be nice.

 

[Mona]

yep, thats the mercury steam i remember

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Mercury Steam's CEO has always suuuuuuuuper sucked.

Would be good if Nintendo could buy the company and pay him to go away, but I doubt they're interested in that financial commitment (and I'm not sure the Spanish government would be a fan of Nintendo purchasing them either)

 

[Neoleo2143]

Why?

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Because they did work on the game and discounting that work is erasing them from involvement.

 

[Xwing]

This is unfortunately becoming a common practice across the games industry. I think it's motivated by companies wanting to avoid poaching of talent, but threatening not to be credited on the game is one of the shittiest possible ways to go about that. This is why unionization is important, to avoid shit like this.

 

[shoptroll]

I hate this fucking trend. Devs should credit everyone who worked on a game, regardless of how long, and regardless of whether they were at the company when the game shipped.

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This is at least a minor improvement at least from the old days. Sierra I believe wouldn't put people in their credits if they left the company before a game went to master.

 

[P-Bo]

Goddamn it, and after all the high praises I had to sing. This is some disappointing shit.

 

[tolkir]

This should be included in the OP of the game's OT

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This should be included in the OP of the most AAA games.

 

[cheesekao]

I never understood why some companies are so shitty when it comes to credits. I mean, what exactly do you stand to lose when including someone? Less than 1kb worth of text data?

 

[dragonbane]

This is extremely common unfortunately.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

I've done full localisations for many games - including some really big ones - and it's pretty much only Ubisoft that gives you a full credit.
It's shitty.

 

[Atolm]

Welcome to Spain's job market. Low pay and exploitative even for high positions. Imagine how it is for those at the bottom.

 

[ScOULaris]

I don't even understand why any company would do this intentionally. They need to patch a new, more complete credits into the game ASAP, IMO.

 

[Mgs2master2]

yep, thats the mercury steam i remember

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Yep, likewise

 

[CasuallyDressed]

Why?

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Because they contributed to the development of the game.

 

[Acidote]

Now, this is typical Spanish. I can assure you there's a useless person in a management position that's in the credits without doing shit.

 

[Capricorn]

Yeah, Mercury Steam is infamous for being a shitty place to work at in the Spanish dev community. I've heard too many horror stories about the CEO and the absolutely godawful pay, shitty even for the absolutely embarrassing Spanish gamedev standards.

If they were halfay decent, I would have applied there in a heartbeat as soon as I knew they were working with Nintendo, but working at MercurySteam? Nah son, nothing is worth that.

 

[stersauce]

this feels like the opposite of what a lot of companies do these days. did you tangentially contribute to this game somehow? you're in the credits

 

[--R]

Nothing new under the MercurySteam sun. They've always been problematic as hell.